GAJOOB Review by Bryan Baker, 7/30/1995:
Best of tapes from cassette artists are definitely a welcome treat ‘cos it allows you to experience their stuff without having to wade through a lot of sometimes self-indulgent filler. Don’t get me wrong; I think the self-indulgence is a big part of the charm of DiY cassettes. The freedom to be self-indulgent is beauty of DiY, in fact. But ‘best of’s’ are still a great opportunity to here a consolidated testament to any hometaper’s greatness. The problem with Jim Shelley putting out a “best of” tape is the fact that most of his tapes already sound like best of’s ‘cos he puts out such consistently good stuff. “In My Room,” “(I’m Glad I’m Not a) Rock Star,” “Haunted Life,” “The Night John Lennon Died,” “(I Just Wanna Be) Normal” and many others are all here on this 90-minute shining example of what’s very cool about hometaping and you really must make it a point to get this one.
Media: cassette.
CONTACT: Jim Shelley, Ain’t Records, Bridgewater, VA, USA
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